Photo of Sons of Legion by Laura Jerele
Going in to cover Sons of Legion at The Factory, I honestly had no idea what to expect with the show, let alone the crowd. But I can tell you this: what I did not expect was it being completely similar to the AC/DC show I covered the night before with more than half of it being Boomers who were absolutely ready to freaking rock! No joke, The Factory pulled in a huge crowd of fabulous and fun elder Gen X-ers and Boomers decked out in their finest, and a shockingly large amount of them being in their freshly purchased AC/DC gear from the night before.
The Factory did a really great job with a custom configuration for this show which was previously booked at and moved from Delmar Hall. They did a kick ass job of creating a seated floor area, to pit areas off to the sides of the floor and a general admission floor section behind all of that. It was very well done to accommodate damn near everyone and the way they may want to enjoy the show. That meant I saw people from all generations blended in all the sections all the way up to the balcony!
This duo is comprised of Adam McInnis and Jack Crenshaw, and you can tell they love performing their fun blend of rock, blues and soul. I loved their stage set up being brightly lit, feeling like a mini arena show, complete with bits of smoke and fog bombs. I found their songs were a bit poppy, too, smartly blending catchy song sensibilities with a bit of that southern twang you would expect. But honestly, I would just call this straight up rock ‘n’ roll.
This was their Soul to SøL tour, and even though I wasn’t super familiar with all of their songs, I found all of it to be really easy to catch onto. They ‘tried out’ a new song “Promised Land,” asking everyone if they should keep in rotation on their upcoming gigs. Audience approved, women shrieked, so that’s a win! They also did a really cool cover of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” while singer McInnis worked his way through the crowd, which was a really cool touch. They were not just phoning this in, they were quite good musicians, and having a great time performing especially with their bigger hits like “Brand New Day” and “Power.” No notes, no complaints!
Their opener, Kenny Sharp was absolutely wonderful. He was a perfect complement for them because his music put everything from country, rock and funk together and even a hint of hip-hop. Sharp’s voice has a lovely richness to it, with a nice darkening back to ’60s soul. We need more music like this. I couldn’t get the setlist, but the songs were good. Checking out a bit more about him, his site he calls it ‘brown liquor’ music, which is pretty funny. This dude had grit and soul and even came across as a bit charming. | Laura Jerele
